


IOU a Coincidence

by RinRin



Series: Tumblr Fics [22]
Category: Naruto
Genre: (but like because I vaguely reference it), Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto) - Freeform, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto)-centric, Gen, IOUs, Implied Relationships, Multi, Pre-Relationship, Prompt Fic, anti-canon ending, post jiraiya's death, where in the timeline even is this?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 13:43:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14379849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinRin/pseuds/RinRin
Summary: Sasuke keeps seeing his old teammates, but they don't seem that interested in what he's doing.  Or is it all just a clever ploy?





	IOU a Coincidence

**Author's Note:**

> dragongoblet asked:
> 
> #6 with Jiraiya as the deceased and Naruto the recipient? Idk, it just sounds like something that might happen
> 
> And I said: *snorts* it would. I make no mention of basically anything, but it’s post Madara, pre Boruto. Also it ended up being shippy. I love it.
> 
> 6\. “you died and left me to repay a bunch of really weird IOUs”

Sasuke started when he realized just who the okama serving him was.  In his defense, Naruto’s Sexy-no-jutsu didn’t exactly look like….  _this_.  Naruto finished placing the food down, bowed, and turned away.

Sasuke scowled.  He wasn’t sure  _what_  the dobe was up to, but he was going to make sure Naruto knew that it  _wasn’t_  going to work!

“It’s unfair isn’t it?” a voice asked from behind him.  A voice he recognized.

He twisted and sure enough, Sakura was hanging over the edge of the shelf that separated their booths, propping up her head with a hand.

“Hn?”

“Naruto.  It’s unfair just how well he looks dressed like that.   _I_  don’t look that good when I’m trying!”

Privately Sasuke thought that was the entire  _point._ Naruto wasn’t trying to achieve some randomly chosen look.  He was just…. Naruto.  Sakura looked best when she was just being herself too.  Not that he would ever admit either.

“Hn.”

Sakura squinted down at him.

“Look, he’s not… this isn’t-”

“Excuse me miss,” a different okama interrupted.

Sakura turned to her, “yes?”

“Your friend just left.  He said to tell you Tea?”

Sakura swore violently, causing the okama’s eyebrows to raise and her mouth to slightly part in surprise.  Without another word, Sakura tossed some ryo down on the table and bolted from the restaurant.  Sasuke stared after her, his brow furrowed.  He had no idea what  _that_  was about.

* * *

He saw Naruto again when he made an offhand comment of having positive memories of a circus and Suigetsu asking what that was upon visiting Otogakure.  Karin and Jūgo decided that they  _had_  to go visit one.

There Naruto was,  _again_ , but this time he was twisting through the air, relying on another to catch him.

Sasuke would have denied it if anyone had asked, but the entire time, his heart had been in his throat.  What if the dobe fell, or wasn’t caught?  He wasn’t the quickest on the uptake, would he even react fast enough to save himself?

He couldn’t take his eyes off of the blond.

“At least this time it isn’t lion taming.  You missed that by a week,” someone said from next to him.

He turned, and there was Sakura, eyes fixed on Naruto, a slight scowl on her face.

“Lion taming?” he asked, and then silently cursed himself.  He wanted to know why they were here, not about  _that_.

“Yeah, it was stupid.  I can’t believe there were  _two_  things he had to do here.”

Sasuke could have asked what she meant, but there was a gasp from the crowd, and his head snapped back, more focused on trying to keep track of his old genin teammate that was  _actively courting death apparently_  than the sane one next to him.

She was gone by the end, darting through the crowd to embrace Naruto.

Sasuke’s mouth felt dry. 

* * *

The third time Sasuke was just wandering along.  But there was Naruto, picking flowers in a field.  Curious, Sasuke stopped and ducked back into the woods to observe.

Naruto gathered some flowers and then began to weave them together.  Soon, a bright flower-crown was held in his hands.

With a grin, Naruto darted over to where a young woman was, showing her the crown.  She took it with a delighted grin and added it to her basket, gently laying it on top of other crowns.

“Again?” a voice asked from below him, at the base of the tree he was in.

Sasuke wasn’t even surprised at this point.  He just glanced down at Sakura.

“Why is he….” he trailed off.  Honestly Sasuke wasn’t even sure  _what_  Naruto was doing.

“Apparently there were a  _lot_  of random favors to civilians that Jiraiya-sama owed.  He left them all for Naruto to fulfill.  To be honest, I’m not sure if it was just an excuse to give Naruto to make him explore the world on his own.  Well, somewhat on his own.  Either way, it’s good for him.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that.

“I think he was going to go down a path that everyone expect of him.  It….wouldn’t have been good for him either.  And I think I would have let it happen too.  We both needed this.”

Sasuke swallowed at that.  He could picture it.  Grooming to become Hokage, probably marrying Hinata just because that’s what was expected.  Naruto chaining himself to something other than going around and  _helping_  people like he was good at.  He could picture Sakura staying in Konoha, slowly reducing the missions she took, becoming a Village-bound medic-nin.  Marrying someone.  (part of him thought it would be him if only because she was just about the only female that he trusted that didn’t live in a Village with a mad scientist.  But it wouldn’t be  _fair_  to her because he wouldn’t stay in Konoha)

He hated the idea.

This time, he didn’t let them leave without him.  This time he tagged along as Naruto started towards Wind and yet another IOU.

He was willing to admit it.  They all were better together than apart, even if being apart let them grow up.

(Besides, the sun and flowers were perfect to balance out the darkness)


End file.
